Chapter Eighty-Four: Grown Ups

Author's note: Guess what? It's my BIRTHDAY today. Yay.
After checking that both her sons were asleep, Brooke Scott went back to her bedroom and locked the door behind her.

"Chris? I'm back," she said.

"How are they?" asked Chris off handedly. Despite his casual words, Brooke couldn't help but suspect that he had a secret fascination with her boys.

"Sleeping, finally. We were insane, having them so close together," she said.

"So it was planned?"

"Yeah. Well, Devon wasn't but Hayden was," explained Brooke, dropping back onto the bed.

"In that two years, when Haley was with that loser at Brown and Jake and Peyton were splitting up, what were you guys doing?" he asked.

"Changing diapers. Having sex. Avoiding our problems? Nothing fascinating. And avoiding New York," she said.

"Why?"

Brooke groaned in annoyance as the phone beeped into her ear, signaling an incoming call.

"Hold on a sec."

Brooke clicked the button and held the phone back to her ear.

"Yes?" she asked impatiently.

"Hey Brooke, it's Nathan," came Nathan's genial phone voice. Brooke blushed immediately, picturing how badly her brother-in-law would kick Chris' skinny ass if he had the chance.

"I've got another call, I'll be right back," she said, hurriedly hanging up on Chris. "Okay, what's up?"

"So I guess you know Haley's due in a month and a half," he began. Brooke grinned.

"Of course. I'm excited, we've got our tickets all booked," she said.

"Uh, great. That's fantastic, I can't wait until you guys see Eve again. She's growing like a weed. But I have something to run by you," he said slowly.

"Me? Not Luke?" Brooke was surprised. Though Nathan had never been unfriendly to her, they'd never clicked in any way. Mostly because he'd repeatedly broken her best friend's heart. Now Brooke was inclined to believe he'd made up for it.

"Yeah. It's actually about Luke. I'm planning on taking some time off when the baby's born. And I've been running it for four years now. The only person I know who was trained like I was is Lucas," he said. Brooke raised her eyebrows.

"You need him to fill in?" he asked.

"Not quite. You guys are down here at least six times a year. Nothing's keeping you there, you and Haley talk on the phone at least three times a week, I know Eve would love to know her cousins. I could get Lucas a permanent position. What do you think?" he asked hesitantly.

Brooke's instant reaction was thoroughly negative. She loved LA. She just didn't love what it seemed to be doing to her family.

"And our parents own another place in the city. We've been renting it out for years, but it's just a few blocks away from here. And I'm sure his pay could be negotiated," said Nathan entreatingly. Brooke paused for a moment. Though it had been gloomy when Nathan and Leigh and Ryan had lived there, Haley had made their townhouse beautiful since she'd moved in. And though Lucas' allowance was sufficient, neither of them had ever really liked his lack of a job.

Plus, Brooke missed her friends and always had.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked eventually.

"Now I'd think you were pregnant, but that would make the red wine a bad idea," said Lucas suspiciously as he walked inside later that night.

"Please, that's definitely Haley's job. Here," said Brooke, handing him a glass. She held hers up and they clinked them together. "To us."

"It's not our anniversary until next week," he said, slightly suspiciously.

"I know. But we have to celebrate now, because we're going to be moving then," she said brightly. Lucas' eyebrows raised almost to his short blonde hair.

"What? Did you get a job offer?" he asked, trying to keep the amazement out of his voice. He tried not to think of how far Brooke could have gone if she'd not gotten pregnant and married him before she'd had the chance to.

"No. You did," she said.

"From who?"

"Nathan." Seeing Lucas' expression, Brooke hurried on. "You'd be the head guy until Nathan goes off maternity leave. And then he'd get you a really, really good job. Like an editor, or a manager or whatever. And a nice house, and we could hang with Haley and Nathan and Ryan and Jake. Even Peyton. And Devon and Hayden could play with Eve if we wanted to visit, so we wouldn't need a babysitter. And I could help Haley with the baby when you guys go off to your jobs," she said.

"Brooke, it's paternity leave. Nathan isn't pregnant," he said. Brooke scowled at him.

"Come on. You need a job. We need to grow up," she said.

"We are grown ups. We're married. We have kids. This place is child proof, for God's sake," he said, his voice growing slightly louder as he spoke.

"Luke, we consummated our marriage in an elevator," she reminded him.

Lucas kept his angry face for a split second before bursting into laughter.

"This is a huge step. We were right here when you told me you were pregnant with Hayden. Devon took his first steps right over there. I asked you to marry me in the front hall. Once during a sample sale you covered every piece of furniture in this room with bags of clothing."

Brooke smiled.

"Babe, grow with me. I can't do it alone. I can't leave you behind," she said.

"Don't even think of it," he said, leaning down to kiss her. Brooke lost herself in his kiss for a moment.

"Right over there, we got the phone-call about your parents. When Devon banged his head and needed stitches, it was on this coffee table. When I went into premature labour with Hayden, I was lying on this couch. It's not all good stuff. We can't start again. New memories, in a really nice house. And I can take the cold. Our boys will love having so much space," she said.

"I don't want to miss seeing them grow up."

"You won't. I promise."

Lucas sighed. He took both of her hands.

"Okay. We'll do it. I'll call the airline to change our flight, and I'll get Nathan to notify the tenants," he said. Brooke giddily leapt into his arms and he caught her around the waist.

"I love you. Oh, this is going to be fabulous. LA's so over. I'm going to call Haley right this second," she said excitedly, bouncing off to the master bedroom. Lucas watched her go and rolled his eyes.

But he couldn't regret it. If he had been the type, he never would have fallen madly in love with Brooke Davis.